


Of Gifts and Tricks

by Alshoruzen



Series: Little Steps [8]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Anniversary, Birthday, Christmas, Established Relationship, Fluff, Halloween, Holidays, Humor, M/M, New Year's Eve, Post-Conan Kudou Shinichi, Romance, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alshoruzen/pseuds/Alshoruzen
Summary: Every couple observes the holidays in their own ways. Some follow the typical traditions and some establish their own, but most do a little bit of both. Kaito and Shinichi are no different. KaiShin
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Series: Little Steps [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642813
Comments: 1
Kudos: 96





	Of Gifts and Tricks

Valentine's

Shinichi doesn't hold with Valentine's Day. It is, in his opinion, merely a commercial opportunity for candy manufacturers and other such business ventures everywhere. It is silly and pointless. Worst of all, it causes friction between people that often leads to arguments and falling outs which then lead to murder.

And so, considering his views on the so-called holiday, he really doesn't understand why he still always gets roped into situations like this. Right now, he is sitting in one of the Suzuki family's cars with Sonoko, Ran, Aoko, and Kazuha as they make their way towards a brand new chocolate factory that is offering a one-day workshop for making personalized Valentine's chocolates. It is the thirteenth of February.

He made the terrible mistake of mentioning that he didn't want to be here.

"Stop complaining. We're doing you a favor here," Sonoko declared.

He stared at her incredulously. "A favor? How is dragging me to some ridiculous Valentine's chocolate workshop doing me a favor?"

"You're lucky a guy like Kuroba-kun even looks at you," she replied like this was some sort of answer. "I still don't understand what he sees in you. He could do so much better."

"Gee, thanks," Shinichi muttered. He might have been more offended if it hadn't been Sonoko talking.

"I mean," she continued undaunted. "He's so charming and talented and—and just amazing!" She let out a dreamy sigh. Then she glared at him. "You don't know how lucky you are! Nearly all the girls I know would kill to be in your shoes."

Shinichi wasn't sure what made him more uncomfortable—the fact that Sonoko was fangirling over his boyfriend or the fact that she sounded like she meant it when she said she personally knew people who would kill to take his place. She was wrong about one thing though. He did know that he was lucky. He was grateful every day that Kaito loved him.

"It's a girlfriend's duty to make sure her man knows she appreciates him on Valentine's. And since we all know you suck at expressing yourself, we're helping you out by letting you join us," Sonoko concluded. "You should be grateful."

Shinichi wondered if Sonoko realized that she had just referred to him as Kaito's girlfriend. He considered pointing out her slip, but he decided he didn't want to hear what she'd say if he did.

And so he ended up being the only guy at the chocolate making workshop. Then again, by now, this didn't surprise him. Ran and Sonoko had always happily dragged him to otherwise all-girl outings and activities. But he took a certain amount of smug satisfaction in the fact that his chocolates turned out prettier than Sonoko's (much to her chagrin. Maybe after this, she wouldn't insist he come on these trips next time).

Still, despite the fact that he doesn't believe in Valentine's and would rather die than ever thank Sonoko for dragging him to another of her boyfriend-acquisition-and-maintenance activities, he will admit—privately—that the smile on Kaito's face when Shinichi (blushing madly all the while) hands him the chocolate makes all the time and effort worthwhile.

White Day

Shinichi's feelings about White Day are much like his feelings about Valentine's. Except there's a little less general irritation and a lot more dread. The reason for the former is that Ran and the other girls don't bother him as much on White Day (unless it's to tease him. He's not sure why this is except that they all seem to derive a strange kind of amusement from monitoring his love life—which just went to show that they really needed to find themselves some new hobbies). The reason for the latter is Kaito and his inclination to go overboard.

Don't get him wrong. He loves Kaito. And Kaito wouldn't be Kaito if he isn't always scheming and making extravagant gestures. He just wishes Kaito would save his more romantic grand gestures for when they're not in public. His time as Conan has made Shinichi wary of publicity, leading him to join the police instead of taking the private detective route. But even as one officer among many, he has been unable to completely avoid the public eye. It's a side effect of being key to solving high profile case after high profile case. But he will never relish media attention the way so many others (like Kaito himself) do.

Between the two of them, they get more than enough media attention on regular days (at least from Shinichi's perspective). Then you have days like this.

There had been an attempted murder at a luxury wedding chapel of all places. The culprit had attempted to drown the woman he professed to love in the fountain in front of the chapel because she'd refused to marry him. She had been about to marry another man, and her ex, in a fit of jealous rage, had declared that, if she wasn't going to marry him then she wouldn't be marrying anyone at all.

It was selfish and pathetic and totally ridiculous, which was why Shinichi was exceptionally grateful that he and the police had managed to save the victim before she drowned. She was being taken to the hospital now in an ambulance with her fiancé attached to her hand like he'd never let go. Seeing the expression on said fiancé's face, Shinichi felt that the woman had made the right choice of future partners, and he wished them both the best.

Then white rose petals had started raining from the sky. The already large crowd that had gathered to gape at the arrest and question the police grew larger as everyone gazed up in wonder at the soft, floral scented rain. The fall of rose petals thickened until it was a veritable blizzard, albeit a warm and very aromatic blizzard. When the petals settled into a fluffy, white carpet across the plaza grounds, everyone present was treated to the sight of the now increasingly famous young magician, Kuroba Kaito, standing at the top of the chapel next to a blushing young woman with wavy black hair dressed in an elegant wedding dress. It was several long seconds before everyone realized that the 'bride' was one Kudo Shinichi.

Cameras flashed.

Groaning, Shinichi hid his face in his hands. "Kaito."

"I see you've had some trouble here," the magician said, addressing the audience below. "But now that it has passed, I hope you don't mind if I steal my lady away for the rest of the day."

"Oh, well, that would be fine," Megure managed to say eventually. He looked suspiciously like he was fighting down a laugh. "Go ahead."

Kaito swept into a dramatic bow. "Thank you." It was only then that he turned to Shinichi, grinning. "Well then, my dear, our carriage awaits."

"What are you even talking about—hey! Put me down!"

While Shinichi did in fact enjoy their romantic evening out, he was less than happy to see the photograph on the front page of the newspaper the following day of himself in a bride's dress being carried down the steps of the wedding chapel by his grinning magician thief. Apparently a lot of people thought it was romantic. Others thought it was a publicity stunt. Shinichi just wished they'd mind their own business.

Still, when Ran asks him afterward why he doesn't just tell Kaito to stop, he realizes that he doesn't really want to. Because embarrassing as some of Kaito's stunts can be, they are a sign that his magician loves him, and Shinichi really can't complain about that.

Birthdays

By now, most of Shinichi's friends know that he tends to forget his birthday. Some of those friends think this habit of his to be somewhere between puzzling and exasperating, but Kaito rather likes it because he loves the cute blush that never fails to surface on Shinichi's face when Kaito wishes him a happy birthday after having swept him away on a full day of adventure and romance.

He rarely throws parties for Shinichi though unless it's helping out with something their friends are planning because he knows that Shinichi isn't big on parties. He saves the parties for his own birthday because hey, what better time to pull all the really crazy pranks that he's always wanted to pull than on his own birthday? Even Aoko lets him get away with the most outrageous things when it's his birthday.

Shinichi always cooks dinner on Kaito's birthday no matter how busy he is or what insanity Kaito decides to unleash on the world as his gift to himself because he knows that Sonoko is right when she says he's not good at expressing his feelings. But he hopes and believes that the effort and care he puts into cooking the foods Kaito likes and trying new dishes he thinks Kaito might enjoy will convey his feelings better than he could ever manage with words. He had also agreed in a moment of insanity some years ago that he would do anything the magician told him to without question on Kaito's birthday.

This is a promise he frequently has cause to regret, but it's also a promise he's never broken and never intends to break.

Halloween

Halloween is one of Kaito's favorite holidays. All the decorations, the costumes, the shows, the sweets, the magic, the pranks—really, what more could a magician ask for? Of course, those are all the same reasons why most of the people around Kaito dread Halloween.

Shinichi is no exception. Although, to be fair, his aversion to Halloween began long before he met Kaito.

His problems with Halloween trace all the way back to his childhood—his first childhood—and his mother. His parents spent more than enough time globe trotting to be well versed in holidays worldwide, and Halloween in particular had appealed to the performer in his mother. Though it is pure speculation, Shinichi feels his mother was singlehandedly responsible for making Halloween popular in their neighborhood.

His earliest memory of the holiday is of being tucked into what he assumed upon thinking back later had been a baby carrier designed to look like a cocoon in the haunted house his mother had set up in their front yard. She had proceeded to stick a giant, hairy fake spider to the "cocoon" right by his face. Shinichi has vague recollections of bursting into tears as a spiky spider leg poked him in the cheek. He's hated spiders ever since.

And that incident had been only the first. Once he'd gotten old enough to be dragged out trick-or-treating (dragged because he didn't like candy enough to care about getting lots of it for free), Yukiko had insisted that they dress up and go out every year. And since Yukiko was Yukiko, their costumes had to be cute, stylish and fun (her words, not his). The photos she had taken from those Halloweens are ones that Shinichi often wishes he could burn.

He'd had a reprieve when his parents moved to America. Then Kaito had come into his life, first as Kaitou KID then as himself.

Getting dressed in embarrassing costumes by Kaito is nothing new in Shinichi's life, but the thing about the costumes Kaito bestows on him on Halloweens is that he inevitably has to be seen in them in public.

As Kaito puts it, "What's the point of a cool Halloween costume if no one gets to see you wear it?"

On the bright side, that means that the costumes generally don't get as…provocative as some of the things Kaito likes to dress him in when they are alone at home (because the thief is fiercely possessive and would never allow anyone aside from himself to see his Shin-chan like that. Those particular outfits are for Kaito's viewing pleasure only. Shinichi's not sure if he should be flattered, exasperated, or relieved by this, so he settles for being a bit of all three).

The many photos of Shinichi from his Halloweens with Kaito aren't simply public. They often make front page news.

KID's most recent Halloween heist, for instance, has generated an entire online gallery with hundreds of contributors. The heist had been outdoors and therefore very accessible to the thief's many fans, and the theme had been Alice in Wonderland. Shinichi had been 'cast' as Alice and dolled up in an embarrassingly frilly, Lolita-style dress and wavy black wig that curled about his face in just the right way to bring out his big blue eyes.

Shinichi had glanced briefly through the online gallery out of morbid curiosity and been mildly disturbed by just how many people were cooing over what a cute Alice he'd been. He'd been even more disturbed by just how many of those people believed that KID had a crush on him and were rooting for the thief to steal him away from Kaito (if only they knew…). Others had postulated that Kaito was in fact KID's real identity, which would have worried Shinichi more if the theory wasn't one that had already been floating around for years (without solid evidence to prove it either way). Whatever their stances though, most of KID's fans seemed to find the thought of his elicit relationship with KID to be wonderfully thrilling and romantic.

Of course, it was true that he and Kaito were together, but it was just creepy having total strangers discussing his love life like it was some kind of real life drama.

Still, even Shinichi had to admit that it had been very funny, seeing Nakamori-keibu dressed as the Red Queen screaming about catching "that damned thief!" while brandishing a fake flamingo.

Christmas

Christmas is unpredictable.

Sometimes they go traveling, either by themselves or with their friends, and sometimes they stay home. Sometimes they host or throw parties, and sometimes they just find a nice restaurant to enjoy a romantic evening of glittering, city lights and good food.

This year, they are keeping everything small. But small is not the same as simple where Kaito is concerned.

He had created a Christmas KID suit. It was red with a green tie over a white dress shirt and a red top hat encircled by a white ribbon. And he had temporarily replaced the clover charm on his monocle with a snowflake one.

Thus dressed, he dragged Shinichi with him to the top of Tokyo Tower—the real top outside where they really shouldn't have been. From there, Santa KID opened his bright crimson glider and soared off to deliver gifts to the Nakamoris, the Mouris, and even the Hakubas and Koizumi, though not before flying Shinichi over the city all dressed in holiday cheer.

Not all the gifts were well received.

Shinichi, who had watched Kaito fly off after leaving him on another rooftop, had headed back home to wait. He was almost immediately bombarded with phone calls from his friends (some happy, some not so much) at the miraculous delivery of Christmas gifts right into their homes by someone who had managed to make it in and out without tripping a single security alarm. They all knew who the culprit was though, and most of them liked their gifts, so it wasn't really a big deal. Even his parents called to wish him a happy holiday and to squeal (his mother) and thank him and Kaito for their gifts (which Shinichi knew he had mailed but which had apparently arrived not by mailman but via a magical explosion of smoke and glitter. He had to wonder how Kaito had arranged that particular trick, especially since the magician definitely hadn't had the time to fly to America, and the gifts had looked perfectly ordinary when Shinichi had dropped them off at the post office). Kaito's mother called as well to invite them over to dinner on the morrow. There were a lot of thanks and a lot of laughter. The only person who had neither given thanks nor laughed was Hakuba, who had demanded to know how to remove the rubber clown nose that had attached itself to his face the instant he'd opened his present (which conveniently had claimed to be from a police officer he'd once helped).

Shinichi, having thought ahead and being the responsible friend in their little circle who didn't find Hakuba unbearable, advised him to open Shinichi's gift, which contained the solution for dissolving the glue in the nose.

That earned Shinichi the blond detective's heartfelt gratitude, and Shinichi was smiling as he shut the phone after his last call to see Kaito striding into their living room with an empty bag slung over his shoulder.

"Everyone says thank you," he told his magician. "Except Hakuba-san, but I think he'll get over it."

Kaito shot him a knowing look. "Because your gift was the cure?"

"I figured no one deserved to spend Christmas with a rubber nose stuck to his face, so yeah."

"Oh well. Just so long as he doesn't come over wanting to take you out to dinner."

Shinichi snorted. "He wouldn't do that."

"I suppose not. He knows I'd make his life a living hell if he tried."

Shinichi decided it was time to change the subject. Kaito could get very vindictive when in one of his possessive moods. Better to get his mind on something else.

"I made hot chocolate. Would you like some?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

Shinichi rolled his eyes but smiled. A few minutes later, he returned from the kitchen bearing two large, steaming mugs of hot chocolate with little flotillas of marshmallows sailing on top past soft mounds of whipped cream.

Kaito whistled. "Now that's what I call hot chocolate."

They spent the next hour and a half cuddling on the couch with their hot chocolates and a heartwarming holiday comedy. While Shinichi normally liked complex mysteries, he had to admit that watching something relaxing now and then was nice too, especially when you were watching it with someone you loved.

They got up and stretched once the movie was over, and Shinichi took their empty mugs back to the kitchen. Kaito trailed after him. He leaned against the kitchen doorframe, smiling softly as he watched his detective rinse their mugs and set them aside to dry.

"Are you tired?" he asked.

Shinichi dried his hands on a towel. "Not really. Are you? I mean, you were running all over the city, delivering those gifts."

Kaito snorted. "That was nothing. You're talking to the great Kaitou KID here."

"Right. Of course." Shinichi ducked his head to hide a smile. "Then was there something you wanted to do?"

"Well~," the magician drawled, striding over to stand in front of Shinichi with a mischievous grin on his face that made the detective feel abruptly wary. "Since neither of us is sleepy, I'd say we might as well open our gifts."

"I thought we were doing that tomorrow morning."

"Ah, but those are the gifts from our friends. I'm talking about our own gifts."

Shinichi frowned slightly. "I thought we agreed we weren't doing gifts this year?" After all, they really didn't need more stuff.

Kaito shrugged. "I know. But you put all that work into making dinner and finding that Christmas treats selection box. The least I could do was get you a little something."

Shinichi smiled despite the continuing sense that Kaito was scheming something. Of course, Kaito was always scheming something. He wouldn't be the brilliant, cunning Kaito that Shinichi had fallen in love with if he wasn't scheming all the time. But that didn't mean Shinichi appreciated all his schemes. "In that case, thank you. Should we head back to the living room?"

"No need. I've got your gift right here. It's just what you wanted."

A cloud of smoke engulfed Shinichi. He coughed, waving at the smoke. When it had cleared, he found himself dressed in a Mrs. Claus outfit of all things.

He blushed and scowled, resisting the urge to try to tug the skirt to make it longer. "Very funny Kai. Now I'd like my clothes back please. And don't you try to pretend I said I wanted to get dressed up."

The magician had the audacity to laugh. "Oh, no, no, you're mistaken. That's not your gift. This is your gift." He handed Shinichi a rectangular object wrapped in holly-print wrapping paper. It felt like a book. Shinichi sincerely hoped he was right and a book was all it was. You could never be sure with Kaito.

"And this is my gift," Kaito concluded, wrapping an arm around Shinichi's waist and pulling him close. "So," he continued in a low purr into the detective's ear that made Shinichi shiver and blush even redder. "Shall we go upstairs and unwrap our presents?"

New Year's

Kaito always sets up a fireworks show on New Year's Eve. It is, after all, traditional.

Sometimes, they'll invite their friends over to watch the show together. At other times, they will visit the others before retreating to some private place—typically the roof or an unoccupied balcony—and enjoy the colorful lights blossoming across the sky wrapped in each other's arms. And as thousands of voices across the city count down to he end of the current year and the beginning of the next, Kaito will pull Shinichi into a deep and lingering kiss that never fails to leave the detective breathless and weak in the knees. It might only be a superstition that a kiss at the crossing of years ensured a happy relationship, but it's a sweet kind of tradition that most couples can enjoy, and the two of them are no exception.

Then they will have a toast and exchange New Year's resolutions or spend some time reminiscing about the ending year before planning for the new one. At other times, if they're at home, Kaito will simply sweep Shinichi off his feet and carry him off to their bedroom, leaving the serious talk for the morning.

Anniversary

Shinichi is of the opinion that they celebrate way too many anniversaries. He knows he's no expert on relationships, but he is pretty sure that most ordinary couples celebrate only one, maybe two anniversaries a year—the anniversary of the day they officially got together and possibly the anniversary of the day they met. The problem is that Kaito doesn't do ordinary.

And so they also regularly celebrate the day Shinichi got the permanent cure for his shrinking problem, the day Kaito introduced himself as himself instead of as Kaitou KID, the day they moved in together, the day Kaito debuted as a professional magician, and so on and so forth. Then again, Shinichi supposes he isn't really surprised. Kaito is a showy person by nature, and he loves any excuse to make extravagant gestures and throw elaborate performances.

So Shinichi is not really surprised to be dragged out of bed one horribly early morning to find that Kaito has laid out a picnic in the backyard so that they can watch the sunrise together.

"And what are we celebrating this time?" he grumbled through a yawn.

"The day I stole your virgi—ow! Shin-chan, what was that for?"

Blushing bright red, Shinichi got up off the blanket and stormed back into the house. "I'm going back to bed."

Kaito's grin turned predatory as he hopped to his feet and jogged after his fleeing detective. "That's an excellent idea."


End file.
